Tuesday, 31 December 2013

Made three issues of the magazine using a long-established and brand new writers, great photographers and the finest illustrators.

Had launch parties at Krazy Horse and the Mud Crab Diner.

Partnered Stevie Gee to open a pop-up art gallery and shop in London.

Built the Stevie Gee Kawasaki Z200 (featured in SB15).

Went on a superb Sideburn x Corpses From Hell ride-out in the Peak District.

Sponsored the DTRA by commissioning six artist posters to promote the UK flat track series.

Raced with the DTRA too.

Had booths at shows in Italy (Verona); France (Wheels and Waves and Cafe Racer Festival); our first in the USA (One Motorcycle Show, Portland), Portugal (Art & Moto) and the UK (The Trip Out and both Bike Shed Events).

Made T-shirts and sweatshirts, woolie hats, patches and badges.

Had top quality European independent manufacturers make Sideburn leather key fobs and silk scarves.

Organised Dirt Quake 2 with a great pre-party by Old Empire Motorcycles.

Attended the first European Dirt Track Festival in Spain.

Attracted new stockists and advertisers.

Posted nearly 600 blogs.

In 2014 we're planning to do some big stuff like...

Produce Sideburn quarterly, going from 3 to 4 issues per year.

Make Dirt Quake 3 (Saturday 19 July!) memorable.

Do a mini-tour of America culminating in Dirt Quake USA (more details to follow in January).

Attend a bunch of shows.

Have another ride-out.

Continue supporting UK and European flat track.

So, thanks to everyone who buys the magazine or merch, who advertises or stocks the magazine. And a massive thanks to the do-ers who are making the motorcycling world more interesting and varied every year.

Monday, 30 December 2013

Continuing our series of Who, What, Why interviews with racing legends we have Jim Rice lined up for issue 16, out in early 2014. If you're missing any back issues, this is who we have conducted exclusive interviews with so far...

You might remember Lorenzo Buratti's SWM Guanaco from Sideburn 14. The Italian also makes moto-themed one-off furniture. This €1500 1970s endurance-themed seat his the latest work. Check out his website for more details. G

Friday, 27 December 2013

Dave Skooter Farm has had this on DVD for years. We even showed it the Sideburn David Aldana Night back in 2011, but it has just appeared on YouTube.
This film, The Thrill Is On, was never properly released because, according to what David Aldana told us, the deal was he would get a cut of the profits from the makers if it ever sold over a certain amount. Once it got close to that amount it stopped being sold, so the filmmakers never had to pay the rider.
I bet they never realised, back in 1971-2, that YouTube would be invented and loads of flat track fans would see it and no one would get any money.
Anyway, enjoy it. Some great period footage of the season or two straight after On Any Sunday. G

Thursday, 26 December 2013

By now the over-commericalisation of Christmas might be sticking in your craw. This is, after all, a deeply religious festival. To redress the balance we deliver this rousing performance by men of the cloth, The Monks.

These spiritual individuals were US Army personnel serving in Germany, where they had the idea to form a band and, later, shaved their heads in the stereotypical monk fashion. They gained a level of popularity in Germany, but were ignored outside the Bundesrepublik, until their truly deranged, avant-garde garage racket found slack-jawed fans years later.

Their output defies description. One thing's for sure, the young Germans dancing in the audience, some of whom must have been born during the war, wouldn't have been dancing to a bunch of delinquent GI's with self-prescribed bald patches if Hitler had his way. Thank God he decided to take on Russia too, the fricking nutcase.

Sit down, listen to this and remember this was recorded in 1966. It's probably the most unhinged music performance you'll see for some time, but nothing says 'Festival celebrating the birth of Christ' quite like The Monks on German TV.

Of course, you may not have had your fill of rampant spending, or may just be heartily disappointed that your so-called 'loved ones' totally failed to buy you any Sideburn goodies for Christmas. In that case, can we point you to the always open Sideburn webshop. G

Thanks to my old friend Alex for sending a link through on the work of Jasper White. This is what the English photographer says about his project...

I’ve recently completed a project shot in various locations throughout Australia that takes you into the private world of working men’s sheds. These sheds are the personal retreat of their creators, filled with the various ephemera of their lives and interests. Viewed as a whole, each shed becomes an extreme focal point of human individuality in what could be described as the barren wasteland of rural Australia. The shed frames an individual portrait of its creator, and this visual impact of the unusual and the unpretentious is what I find so interesting.

Tuesday, 24 December 2013

With a new year and a new season just
around the corner, the Waters Autobody/Project K Racing team supported by
KTM & GE Capital announces their partnership with National #10 Johnny
Lewis. Lewis, a former Factory KTM Supermoto racer with 8 career podiums
and a win in the AMA Pro Supermoto Unlimited class, has joined the Leo
Vince supported team on the KTM powered 990 V-twin for the AMA Pro Flat
Track Twins Championship in 2014. Lewis has opted to not re-sign with the
Latus Motors Racing Triumph program for a second season, where the
season’s best result came at Virgina’s Colonial Downs Mega Mile with a
second place Dash for Cash finish and an 8th place finish in the main
event after coasting to the finish line with engine issues. The 2012 AMA
Pro Flat Track Daytona winner is excited to help Project K Racing owner
Dave Waters further develop the KTM 990 and hopes to bring it to the next
step with a first-ever podium finish in the AMA Pro Flat Track Twins
Championship next season.

If you want to read to more about the Project K KTM V-twin there is a big feature in Sideburn 12 (that we've sold out, but some of our loyal dealers might have. If you want to find one, leave a comment telling where you are).
Johnny Lewis, one of the most erudite and amusing riders in the GNC, is interviewed in Sideburn 9.

And this all means talk that Shayna Texter will ride the Latus Triumph twin, a team managed by former champion Joe Kopp, is more than a rumour. Though, I'm unsure if this in in the top Experts class or the 'support' Basic twins class. The Inslide Line stated Joe Kopp is going to ride the Triumph twin at some rounds, too. This is likely to help the young rider with set-up. G

And fantasize no longer as Orange Bones in Spain now make an adult drift trike. Me and Anthony Co-Built tried them out in the Noyes Camp pits. The small rear go-kart wheels are inflated inside a short section hard PVC pipe to produce a rear end with virtually no grip. More slippery than a greased eel.

They also make a motorized version. Here Kenny Noyes shows us how it's meant to be done. BP

Sunday, 22 December 2013

So, perhaps you have a party and no soundtrack. Perhaps you have no party. Perhaps you're washing dishes in the back of a restaurant this holiday season, working in a petrol station, guarding a warehouse, nightwatch in an old folks home or you're a Sikh (or one of the many other religions that don't celebrate Christmas). Perhaps you are just a music fan with similar tastes to me. Whatever you may be, animal, vegetable or mineral, your life will be enriched, by following the link below to listen to the latest instalment of Sideburn's official DJ, Mr Johnny Alpha's radio show - the Killer Diller Christmas Special. He has, as his guest, the partially-drunken Stags.

There are a few familiar (to me) tracks on the mix, but I was turned on to a new name - Cherry Rainer. I googled her and found this amazing film from a German TV show from the 1960s Beat! Beat! Beat! Cherry has a Sassoon bob so sharp it could cut 10mm MDF and her drummer, Don Storr, looks like a prison amateur dramatics society's casting of Richard Nixon. I have imagined whole back stories for Cherry and Don, but I know nothing of their real lives.

The show also includes The Stags playing Rollergürl, a 7in that was released by Sideburn. We have a few left... Follow the link to get your own ltd. edition Stags single. G

UPDATE: The Stags are playing Camden, London on December 28th, and the Hipsville Christmas Party. They're on first, so don't be late. More details here.

Sam Christmas that is.
Not only did the top photographer shoot one of our current covers - SB15 Stevie Gee and the accompanying feature - he's been doing a load of great work for friends of Sideburn: Edwin (below) and also Cafe Racer France, including this shoot of Tamara on Spirit of the Seventies' Kawasaki ER6.
Good work, Mr Christmas! G

Saturday, 21 December 2013

This is going to be good. It's not just for cafe racers, but all kinds of performance specials. Cafe Racer Festival is held at the historic Montlhery banked oval, dating from the 1920s. Sideburn went last year, not knowing what to expect, and loved it. It's run by our friends at Cafe Racer magazine in France (the original Cafe Racer, not the American pamphlet). G

Thursday, 19 December 2013

We were delighted to have Tyler Porter (pictured), of Fight For Dirt Track and The Inslide Line write for Sideburn 15. He wrote about the current battle between Kawasaki twin and Harley XR750 riders in the Grand National Championship. He's just delivered another great feature, full of insight, for the next issue. If you like flat track and don't read the Inslide Line, you're missing out. It's the essential weekly update on pro flat track in the US, full of informed rumours and opinion.
We asked Tyler (#28C) to introduce himself...

Tyler Porter, the self-proclaimed People's Champion since 2004. Now at the ripe age of 28 and a half, Tyler's best racing days are behind him, well that is, if they were ever ahead of him. While he rides in the AMA Pro Racing Pro Singles class, unless he has a magical day, he is your typical average, rear of the pack, not making the main event type racer. You know, the one who shows up so that all of the others can look so good.
However, he doesn't let this get him down. Instead, he fights on through his website, www.fightfordirttrack.com where you can always find the latest news and stories from the top to the bottom of dirt track. His world famous weekly column, "The InSLIDE Line" gets nearly 10,000 unique readers per month and has never missed a week since it started in 2008. The latest happenings in the dirt tracking world as well as some very hilarious predictions during race season can be found in the column. We all suggest you check it out every Friday to get your weekly dose of dirt track. When he isn't being an also ran or wanna-be journalist, he does have a real job, as Director of Domestic and International Sales for Memphis Shades motorcycle windshield and fairing company (www.memphisshades.com). Affiliated with Memphis Shades since 2009, Tyler travels the country and all around the world all year long promoting the brand and attending famed events like Daytona Bike Week, the Sturgis Rally and the Laughlin River Run.
Though his measily racing efforts shouldn't garner much help, the exposure from the Website has brought on a host of industry supporters. Tyler's racing program and website COULD NOT exist if it weren't for the help from Bell Helmets, Silkolene Oils (Bristish), DP Brakes (British), Works Connection, Motion Pro Tools, K&N Filters, Lightshoe (Best Steel Shoes IN THE WORLD!) RK Chains, CP Pistons, Carrillo Rods, Ride Engineering and EVS Protective Gear. Please visit those sponsors and support them because they support us!

Tuesday, 17 December 2013

Ever since I heard about Rossi building a riding ranch in his home town of Tavullia I wanted to ride it. And going to prove it's not what you know, but who you know, in early September this year I managed, being the first journalist in the world to do a lap of Rossi's private test track.

It was all down to my connections with Rolling Stone Italy, for whom I write a monthly column on motorcycle culture.

It was ten years since Rossi was on their cover, dressed as Elvis and the editor, Michele Lupi, wanted to catch up and chose me to write the exclusive interview. The feature was even mentioned on the national 8pm news.

It's out in Rolling Stone Italy, December issue (with Ligabue on the cover). GI

I was invited to do the interview, but I asked if I could ride the track while I was there. It was no problem, Rossi's right-hand man, Albi said, and rustled up a bunch of gear for me to borrow. Our old friend Marco Belli loaned me his 450 that was on wrecked, bald tyres. I rode like a wet lettuce, uncomfortable on the tyres and the surface is very, very loose, but I'm glad I did it. I'd have been happier on my own bike, though.

Valentino, Gary, Marco

The original steel-frame Zaeta belonging to Graziano Rossi. The old man did more laps than anyone in the blazing heat and dust.

Above: Leathers hung up in the Rossi Pizzeria in Tavullia. It's a stylish place with just enough memorabilia to feel special, but not cluttered. In the courtyard is a well-stocked gift shop full of 46 paraphernalia.

The Rossi Fan Club HQ.

To see when GI interviewed Rossi before (but it wasn't for the first time), click here.

Portland continues to prove to the world it is the greatest motorcycling city on earth.
This week our good friends at the Sang Froid Riding Club have arranged for Austin Vince to visit Portland to premiere his new film, Mondo Sahara. This Thursday!
It has special resonance, because two of the riders on the adventure were from the Oregon city.
It's only $5 to get in. You'd be as dumb as a rock-eating dog not to get along if you're in the vicinity. G

Monday, 16 December 2013

UPDATE: BP posted this mind-boggling video. What isn't apparent is Martyn Ashton is now paralysed from a crash, back in September, and got Chris Akrigg and Danny MacAskill on board to help him finish the video.
There's a very good piece about this film and Martyn here. GI

Gary already posted the blurb on Jan-Willem's Super Wheels.I've seen them up close at Noyes Camp in Spain. Unlike me, J-W does not hand-file bits of scrap iron in his garden shed. J-W's world is inhabited by robots wielding surgical instruments. J-W utilizes only refined high-tech alloys. These new wheels are as state-of-the-art as can be. The prototypes fitted here to Tom's awesome J&M framed Sportser were machined from spun blanks, but the production versions would look identical but be forged.

Inspired by the beloved BMX Skyway mags of our youth, I'd like to see them in garish colours too. Rad. BP